Stereo Guru's

I put a new after market deck in my 99 limited and I have no sound at all when playing CD's. It happened with multiple decks but the stock unit played Cd's just fine. Anyone have any ideas? Could it be related to the stock amp? Plays radio just fine.

much the same happened to me when I installed a deck. yes the amp caused a problem. not sure which wire it was to the amp, but there should be a blue wire off your new deck which turns the amp on. you'll need to splice the two together.

atleast thats what worked for me... after figuring it out 2 days later.

There is only an amp if you have an Infinity system. I had the stock cassette player and there is no amp with it.

Are you using a wire harness to hook to the factory harness? If so your Deck should have 2 Blue wires comming off the back of the deck. One is the Power Ant (blue) and one is the Remote turn on (blue with a white stripe) depending on the deck. most are standard but some off brands still may use another color, check you deck install manual for the correct wire code.

sounds like you have the Power Ant wire hooked to the Amp. Make sure you match the colors from the Deck to the wire harness. if you don't have a wire harness you need to find the factory lead to tap into.

Check out 12volt.com he has several factory wire diagrams.

EDIT Sorrty this is the right site the12volt.com

I'm using the plastic harnesses that click together No splicing. I do have the infinity system so it does have the amp.

I'm gonna go with P1atinum on this one. I think the power antenna lead of the new unit is being used instead of the remote turn-on lead, which is why you're getting sound when using the radio and not the cd(as there is no power to the antenna lead when the radio function is not being used).

X2 on the power antenna lead! I just had that with my new Excelon. I had CD and USB but no radio. did some troubleshooting an had to kick myself for using the PA lead and not the remote turn on! I've been doing this for 20+ years and sitll made a rookie mistake.
Not to hijack but I have an infinity amp from an xj I bought for parts, does anyone ever want one of these things? I have the wiring pigtail and even a pinout for it but don't need it in my system.

gradon said:

I'm gonna go with P1atinum on this one. I think the power antenna lead of the new unit is being used instead of the remote turn-on lead, which is why you're getting sound when using the radio and not the cd(as there is no power to the antenna lead when the radio function is not being used).

Click to expand...

So how do I fix it?

Get your harness out of the vehicle and identify the "Remote turn on" lead from the STEREO (blue and white?). Using the diagram that came with the harness that plugs INTO the factory harness and identify the "amp turn on"(or similar phrase) and connect the two. That should solve your problem. bold and caps added for clarity not to demean or disrespect

Edit
This may not be correct. Check Crutchfield and see about an adapter. If not I'll ask their tech support as I have a recent RO number.

I've never seen a snap together one, the kits that usually come with an aftermarket head unit usually require soldering, they worked first time. It may be another story when I replace the head unit in the ZJ, that has an infinity amp under the rear seat BUT in the case of the XJ the 'kit' that was needed when I ordered the head unit off of cardomain was very specific as to whether the jeep had an amp or not, this was for a Jensen am/fm/cd/bluetooth unit.

If you have the wiring diagram for the new head unit(in the manual, a paper, or a sticker on top of the head unit), find out what color the remote/amp turn on lead is(blue w/ white stripe normally) and make sure it is connected to the factory remote turn on lead. When installing aftermarket headunits, usually you buy a wiring harness(Metra is a good brand) that will plug into the factory harness and then you have to connect that harness to the new headunit's harness by some method(I use solder and heat shrink, some use crimp-on connectors, some just twist wires and use e-tape). I haven't used the "click together" harness, so I can't speak for it.